


Massacre

by Shipper101



Series: IMAGE RWBY au [2]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe, Horror, Magic, Rituals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-10
Updated: 2018-11-10
Packaged: 2019-08-21 15:31:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16579241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shipper101/pseuds/Shipper101
Summary: The Ice Queen Rises.





	1. Betrayal

**Author's Note:**

> Well, it has taken me FAR too long to look at this series again. I hope you enjoy.

Weiss sighed, her breath gusting before her in a thin, translucent cloud. Even within the Schnee Mansion, the bitter cold of Atlas seemed to penetrate to the very bones. Not that she cared. The cold ceased to affect her many months ago. She felt tense. Not strung tight, as if feeling the foreboding shadow of things to come. No, instead just as if she couldn't be not tense. Her heart seemed bound in a cage, her mind constantly twisting and writhing. She could barely sleep. Sometimes it was so bad she could barely think. The only thing that seemed to slow her down was her reading. 

The Schnee library could be well considered a wonder of the world in its own right. It was said that every volume ever penned was stored in its vast expanse. About a week after she returned, on one of her night long excursions, she had chosen to try to prove that claim. Searching deep within the darkness of the empty library, sifting through the mountains of damp-proofed paper, she found it. On the face of it, it was nothing to note. A simple leather bound tome, inset with obsidian and onyx gems and bound tight with straps. Perplexed, Weiss could focus on little else for the entire following day, and upon its conclusion she returned to the library, and stole the book away to her room. The words on the cover were utterly unintelligible- clearly printed on the page, but in silver runes, in a language beyond Weiss Schnee's discovery. She strove for a week to get it open, but nothing could be found. Even Myrtenmaster failed to pierce the tough straps, greatly blunting the blade in the process, shearing a number of metal slivers from the blade. 

It was while clearing up these slivers that the answer was found. Carelessly grasping a sliver of metal, it bit deep into Weiss's aura-less hand. Gasping, her exclamation turned to silence as the crimson droplet fell upon the book. Cradling her injured hand, she looked down at the book. Where the blood had landed, a red web was spreading across the book's bindings, restoring colour to the book, long lost to the mists of time. The droplet, however, was clearly not enough- the web barely covered an area the size of her fingerprint, while the book itself was a mighty tome. Looking down at her injured hand, she pressed it to the cover of the book. Immediately, the red web spread across the surface, growing forth from her hand. Weiss felt a strange tingling sensation across her form, as the colour across her body, such as it was, seemed to flow from her form and into the bindings of the book. The leather across its surface had now taken on the disturbing hue of flesh, a healthy pinkish colour underlain by darker capillaries. 

Removing her now pure white hand from the book cover, Weiss inspected her hand. The cut was still there, but no blood flowed from the wound. It was as if all the blood in her body had been drawn into the tome. Looking down at the book in question, she saw the title. Where once title was hidden in runes and proved incomprehensible to the Heiress, now it was a clear and obvious line of text. 

"On the Uses and Pitfalls of Magic"

******************************************************

That had been five months ago. It seemed that after its initial obstructiveness, the book had been only too willing to spill its endless secrets to the Schnee Heiress. She knew what she wanted. She knew how to get it. She was prepared. The ritual was prepared. The Schnee glyph at the centre of the mansion had stood as a gaudy icon of Schnee power for two generations. Now, she had another use for it. The night was utterly still and silent. He had all of the pieces she needed. She had chosen this course of action three months ago, and three months is a long time when you have access to an infinite budget. If there was one part of her training in Beacon of which Jacques thoroughly agreed, it was her dust alchemy, and he was more than willing to provide unlimited finances to assist in the 'worthwhile pursuit of knowledge valuable to the DC'. He was going to regret that. He was going to be regretting a lot of things. 

And now here she was, stark naked in the entry hall of the Schnee mansion, knelt in the centre of the Schnee glyph on the ground, delicately and intricately painted in an ornate design of dust. Everything was ready. Letting out a breath she had been holding, she initiated the first line of the incantation.

'Sit potentia ave virgo in me'

The night beyond the walls, quiet at the best of times, fell to deathly silence. There was a palpable power in the air, gathering and winding around Weiss. It seemed to crackle, causing eddies in the still air, but never touched the Schnee heiress at the centre of the hall.

'Et sacrificium familiae mihi tradidit voluntati'

This was where there was no turning back. Her offer had been made. Snakes of white energy rushed out towards the bedrooms of the other Schnees. The pressures in Weiss's head fell away, granting her pure clarity for what felt like the first time ever. She forced herself to remain focused on the cant.

'magicae vires vincere animum'

After the third line was announced, she felt a driving pain across her naked body, as the lines of dust roared into life, burrowing into her pale flesh. Sparks seemed to fly from her form as the dust settled itself in the form of almost invisibly faint tattoos, buried in her flesh. She gritted her teeth, pushing the pain to the back of her mind. Any pause now, and her quest would be over before it started. She was committed to this now.

'quia nunquam potest adhuc infirmi'

It seemed that the line was spoken at a perfect time, for even as she said it, Whitley, Jacques and Willow entered the room. She looked at them; her brother, who betrayed her for favour and wealth, not understanding that true power is only that which is native to yourself. Her father, the bully, the tyrant, who failed to realise that the kicked dog learns only who his true enemy is. And her mother. In years past, Weiss pitied her mother. Now, Weiss despised her. She was what Jacques wanted to turn her into. Hidden away, ignoring her problems, accepting her own weakness, and living with it. All three stared a Weiss with terrified eyes, control of their bodes stolen away from them by Weiss's magic. The gathered around her, forced to their knees around the points of the glyph, even as Weiss reached out and gripped the ceremonial knife firmly.

'et ut ultionem hostibus meis'

Weiss was afraid now. She knew what she had to do to complete this ritual. But she feared. Schooling her features, preventing her family from seeing her fear, she steeled her mind, focusing on the task at hand. One more line, then one more step. That was all it took. Then she would be free. Raising the knife high in the air, she spoke the last phrase of the incantation.

'et abscondam, quod contritos corde'

Then, she drove the knife into her heart. Screaming in pain, she focused. The blade was fashioned from dust infused Atlesian steel, an she needed to guide the metal. Even as her mind focused on the blade, the glyph around her glowed.Willow, Whitley and Jacques all started screaming, but their screams turned into more of a wet gurgle as their blood evacuated their bodies through their facial orifices, swirling around the glyph, before flowing into the gaping wound in Weiss's chest. After what seemed like forever, the three collapsed, their bodies desiccated husks that started to evaporate even as the blood formed a tornado around Weiss, flowing into the wound in her heart.

**************************

By the time Klein arrived, there was no sign anything had ever been amiss. The floor was clean, the air was fresh. But the house and all of the surroundings were... empty. Nothing moved. Nothing stirred. The security stations were empty, the birds were silent. He even had to open the door for once. The further he moved into the house, however, the more the story changed. There were a number of pure white armoured knight statues that lined halls where before none existed. A number of bullet holes were visible in the walls. And, most disconcertingly, every picture in the place seemed to be watching him, their eyes following his movements, their faces contorting into screams of fear and warning in the corner of his eyes. 

Opening the door to the study, he froze sill in place. A cadaver was lying on the table, its face hidden beneath a white helmet. More concerning, however, was the tall, black clad woman standing over it, carving into its chest with a long, thin knife. The world itself seemed to distort around the woman's frame, but all the distortion in the world couldn't hide the pure white hair, marking her out clearly as a scion of the Schnee family. 

'Mistress Weiss...'

The woman turned around at speed. It was Weiss, but at the same time, it wasn't. Her eyes shone yellow with malevolent light, and her usual white or blue ensemble had been replaced with a night black getup, with the high collar showing elegant lines of blue decoration, and the ankle length dress glowing with inlaid white patterning. Dust, Klein realised. The dress must have cost a fortune. The woman sighed.

'Klein. I really, really wish you had just taken the day off.'

With that, Weiss's hand flicked forwards. Even as she moved, a thin chain of glowing fragments formed from her hand, before lashing out at speed. Klein stood there stunned. Looking down, he saw the chain, embedded in his chest. Looking up, he flinched as Weiss appeared right before his face.

'Don't worry. You won't be like them- no more service for you. Sleep well Klein.'

Seconds after the light left Klein's eyes, Weiss flicked her wrist. A wave of fire raced along the chain, and turned the body to ash with surpassing speed. She just stood there for a moment, then she turned back to the half finished puppet on the table.

'Where was I... oh, yes. There.'


	2. Slaughter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Weiss's malevolence is unleashed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This series is inspired by the amazing artwork by Dane of Celestia. This particular story is inspired by her Burning Snow artwork.
> 
> https://www.deviantart.com/dane-of-celestia/art/RWBYAU-Burning-Snow-485698155

The dreadnoughts lumbered south like the immense behemoths of machinery and armoured death they were. There were four in total. Three were under the command of the, now very uncomfortable, Winter Schnee. How Weiss had pulled this with high command was beyond her, but she obeyed her orders. She didn't even want to guess how long it would take her to get another, similar command, and she was unwilling to look a gift horse in the mouth. 

This particular gift horse, however, was beginning to look rather more like a mountain of disease and poor health in the roughly quadrupedal shape of a horse. Absolutely nothing about this mission inspired confidence. First, it was her little sister who had asked for it. Her little sister, who was a) the only remaining, non-disappeared Schnee, b) able to, seemingly out of nowhere, field enough trained soldiers to man a dreadnought, and c) sporting a new look that flat out screamed sinister. The fact she had somehow convinced high command to OK this, over and above the objections of General Ironwood, was just not helping matters. Even her father had failed to ever convince high command to oppose Ironwood, and he practically owned their souls via military contracts. Weiss had barely even been announced as CEO of the Schnee Dust Company when she was immediately sending out military expeditions.

Oh, yes, that was the second point. Their target was in Mistral, so not only did the expedition happen with no oversight from the highest ranked General in Atlas, it also was aimed at another sovereign state. Just to compound matters, it was not aimed at any particular point in Mistral; just a vaguely designated area. So now, Winter had some major misgivings about this whole affair, but what could she do. She couldn't stop it, and the new, black clad, yellow eyed Weiss seemed quite intolerant of disloyalty. Better Winter try to reason with her sister than some unknown fool of an officer.

'Approaching Mistral coastline. Scans indicate medium Grimm activity, Lancer variety. Should we engage, or ignore?'

Winter sat heavily in the command chair. No Grimm in their right mind would come anywhere near a military convoy of this size, but, if they ignored the threat, it may draw in Mistral authorities, and Winter would put money on the fact this mission hadn't been cleared with them first. 

'Ignore the Grimm. We are almost at destination.'

And with that, the battle group ploughed on across the skies.

*************************

The first sign that anything was amiss was when half a dozen of her men ran through the gates of the wooden palisade around the camp. Raven was pulled out of an utterly boring logistics conversation, and so was extremely receptive when Vernal ran into her tent.

'Atlas troops here.'

'What do they want?'

'All they said was they want to meet you.'

Nodding swiftly, Raven rushed outside, Vernal hot on her heels. The whole camp was a furious buzz of activity, but the area round the gate was completely clear.

Standing just beyond the camp was the Schnee heiress from Yang's team. Weiss, wasn't it? Although, she looked so utterly different it could very well have been an unknown sister. Her skin was pure white, flowing seamlessly into her hair, tied up in a tight ponytail shored up by a crown-like hair-piece forged of some form of black metal. Her body was clearly defined- muscular, yet wiry, and quite astoundingly flat chested- beneath a tight leathery corset and light silk sleeves. Her lower body was covered with a long leather skirt, wither her occasional pacing showing a deep blue velvet lining. The whole getup was decorated with inlaid white lines, which Raven recognised quickly as dust. 

'What do you want, Schnee?'

Weiss stopped pacing, and looked up at Raven. Red eyes met yellow.

'I have need of your abilities. And I need them now.'

'Leave this place, Schnee. Being here is a mistake. I don't want to seem rude, but you come to my home with an army, and I will not be providing any help to anyone.'

Weiss tilts her head to the side, as if considering Raven's words.

'We could make this worth your while.'

Raven scoffs. Of course, money would be what the Schnee would think of.

'I have no need of your money. Leave now, before we make you.'

At this, Raven realised she'd made a mistake. Weiss's contemplative face turned into a terrifying slasher smile.

'Oh, i'm so glad you said that.'

Faster than Raven could perceive, a burning chain whip shot from Weiss's hand (when in the hell did she manage to raise her hand without Raven noticing?), heading directly towards Raven. As the older woman ducked out of the way, the two white armoured knights next to Weiss drew their weapons and charged at Vernal. The young bandit drew her weapons at speed, but was barely able to evade the flurry of blows. Then, Raven was forced to roll out of the way of Weiss's next strike- a whip of obsidian shards that all but glowed with power, even as the ground where Raven had formerly been in residence exploded in a globe of pure energy. Raven was realising she needed to stop fighting like a huntress. Fights between huntresses and witches only ever ended one way. 

Drawing her blade, she allowed the power of the Spring Maiden to flow through her. Her eyes ignited, and she hurled herself at the Schnee witch. A charge that was ended abruptly as a burning whip smashed into her aura all along her side and hurled her into a tree. Raven needed a moment to regain her bearings, and could feel her adrenaline pumping hard as she realised a death strike could come at any time. When it didn't come, she looked up. 

The scene before her was of carnage. A number of bandits, having obviously heard the commotion, had come out of the camp, and were engaged in a fight with the two white clad knights. It was a sadly one sided fight, the Knight's armour and weapons making short work of the bandits. Vernal, meanwhile... Vernal was suspended in the air, Weiss's hand firmly gripped around her neck, a short length of bloody chain visible out of the back of her neck. Her body was unnaturally still, her eyes open, staring emptily at Raven. The Schnee bitch looked over at the prone Spring Maiden, and sneered at her, before she flexed her grip, and Vernal's corpse exploded into ash.

Roaring in fury, Raven's blade flashed out, only to be met by steel. A rapier had appeared, as if from nowhere, in Weiss's hand. The witch smiled at Raven over the locked blades.

'Burn them all'

*************

The sky above the camp seemed to rip apart as the Atlesian Dreadnoughts uncloaked. Their weapons trained on the ground, tonne after tonne of high explosive munitions were sent spiralling down and detonating in the camp. Scores of bandits were exterminated in seconds, and the rest were shocked and stunned, unable to do anything to avert their impending destruction. The tribe was all but eradicated by the end of the first minute, the rough and ready weapons and encampment of the bandits no match for the cutting edge technology of the world's foremost military power.

Raven screamed as the ships opened fire. The bandits outside the camp were shocked and stunned by the nearby explosions. The knights, not so much.

As Raven was distracted by the slaughter of her people, Weiss took advantage. Lashing Raven to the ground with a torrent of chains and magical bindings, Weiss slashed out with her mirage Myrtenmaster. Raven roared as her hand, and the sword still grasped within, was sent spinning away from its former position on her stump.

Weiss knelt down over Raven, who was writhing and trying to escape from the bindings.

'Sssshhh, little Raven. This won't take a moment.'

Gripping Raven's head in her hands, she snarled. Her hands glowed red, and Raven's writhings slowed, even as the colour was drained from her body. By the time Weiss released Raven, the area was silent. The fire from above was stopped, the swords of the knights sheathed. The bandits were all strewn around the ground, their eyes glassy. Raven's chest rose and fell slowly, but steadily. 

Weiss waved her hand, and a massive red portal glowed into existence.

'Time to go to our new home.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, there it is. Hope everyone enjoys.

**Author's Note:**

> BTW, the spell is in latin (obviously). I am not a latin scholar, so I used google translate. I really, REALLY don't want to know what it actually says. What I entered was:
> 
> Let the power of the Winter Maiden Fall Upon Me,  
> And by the sacrifice of family betrayed grant me the will,  
> to master the might of magic and the soul,  
> that I shall never be weak again,  
> and that I may take vengeance upon my foes,  
> and hide the heart that was broken


End file.
